The American People Tell Washington A Few Things

I have yet to talk to anyone – even in this super-liberal little ash-tray of a town – who supports the president’s proposed new war. The polls tell the same story. The NYT has this revealing nugget from the left:

Representative Elijah E. Cummings, who represents a district that includes parts of Baltimore and has not decided how he stands on attacking Syria, said the pressure from his constituents to oppose the president’s plan is unmistakable. When he visited a grocery store on Wednesday, he said, almost a dozen people told him they thought intervening in Syria was a bad idea. None of them expressed support.

“If you’ve got 95 percent of them saying one thing, it becomes far more difficult to go against them,” he said, adding that the president needed to make a more forceful and convincing case to the public if he wanted Congressional consent for an attack. “As a good friend of his and someone who supports him, I think he’s got to help the Congress help him.”

“The active public is against this,” Rep. Brad Sherman, who supports intervention, told me. “I don’t know a member of Congress whose e-mails and phone calls are in favor of this.” … Jonathan Allen and Jake Sherman report that House Republicans are not inclined to back President Obama on Syria. “Several lawmakers and aides who have been canvassing support say that nearly 80 percent of the House Republican Conference is, to some degree, opposed to launching strikes in Syria. Informal counts by Obama allies show that support in Congress for Obama’s plans is in the low dozens.”

House Republican leadership, meanwhile, isn’t inclined to change their members’ minds. “Speaker John Boehner’s spokesman said that he ‘expects the White House to provide answers to members’ questions and take the lead on any whipping effort.’”

This ship is sinking fast. And a new constitutional order may be emerging. Call your Senator and representative and let them know you’re against it, if you are. Now is the time for the people to save their president and their country from another Bush-Cheney-style folly.